Silver Falls State Park in Oregon - Trail of Ten Falls

Silver Falls State Park is the largest park in the Oregon State Parks system (9,000 acres, 3,642 hectares) and features one of the most impressive waterfall day hikes in the US.  There are ten waterfalls on the 7.8 mile (12.6 km) loop, many of which the path goes behind, in addition to more than 35 miles (56 km) of backcountry trails for mountain biking, hiking, or horseback riding (beware the bears and cougars living in the more remote park areas).  We're exploring a little of Oregon and head over to hike the fails

We park and walk toward the first falls, Upper North Falls.

Upper North Falls

Backtracking, we start down Canyon Trail, descending into the canyon and looping past the other waterfalls, starting with the first one that we can walk behind, North Falls.

Descending to the canyon floor

North Falls

View from behind the falls

Continuing along the trail, we reach Twin Falls, then Middle North Falls, another we can walk behind.

Continuing along the canyon floor

Twin Falls

Middle North Falls

We then pass Drake Falls, Double Falls, and Lower North Falls.

Drake Falls

Double Falls

Lower North Falls

After Lower North Falls, a bridge takes us across the water and we follow the stream to Lower South Falls (again walking behind the falls) and then up from the canyon floor toward  South Falls.

Crossing the bridge and continuing along the stream

Lower South Falls

South Falls

We follow the trail up from South Falls and walk along the stream leading to the falls back to the parking lot for

The top of South Falls

As we get to then end, we realize that our fall count is nine.  We missed Winter Falls which is down a separate Winter Falls Trail.  But, we've still seen many great waterfalls and had a spectacular hike with  an incredibly scenic few hours, especially actually walking behind many of the falls and viewing them from a different perspective.

Branzino

In our trips this year to Monterosso al Mare in Cinque Terre, we  observed the Ligurian cooking class at Hotel Villa Steno and learned to make an incredible branzino (and also fabulous pesto).  We bring our new skills home and purchase filleted branzino at Pike Place Market while we are in Seattle, carry them home, and prepare a great dish with the branzino, roasted potatoes, and trofie with pesto.

We start with branzino fillets in a pan with olive oil and garlic cloves.  We then prepare a mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, and oregano which we pour over the fish and then cover with olives and capers.  We add rosemary and bay leaves and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Branzino fillets

Ready for the oven

For the potatoes, we thin slice Yukon Gold potatoes with a mandoline food slicer, layer them in a sheet pan, and cover them with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  We pop them in the oven with the branzino and prepare trofie with pesto using trofie pasta and the pesto sauce that we made from our basil plants (and grated Parmesan cheese, grated Romano cheese, toasted pine nuts, salt, and olive oil),

Potatoes ready for baking

Trofie mixed with the pesto

Dinner is ready!

This is a simple, but fabulous meal and we'll enjoy it many times.

Seattle Waterfront Park

We make a quick trip into Seattle and walk through the new Waterfront Park completed in September of 2025:  20 acres (8 hectares) from Belltown to Pioneer square that includes playgrounds, public community piers, bike lanes, thousands of native plants, and event spaces for diverse cultural programming.  The new area includes Overlook Walk connecting the park to Pike Place Market.  We start at Pike Place Market and walk down to the park.

Views of the harbor

Overlook Walk connecting the spaces

Looking up at Overlook Walk and Pike Place Market

We stroll through Overlook Walk and down to the park on the water, wandering around the piers and the shops and restaurants.  We first walk out onto Pier 62, a revitalized historic pier now offering community space for cultural programming, fitness classes, performances, concerts, and informal group spaces, all with the mountains and sea as a backdrop.

Pier 62

Container art on the pier

Looking back at the city from Pier 62

Leaving the pier, we stroll south along the water, over towards the Seattle Great Wheel, admiring the gardens and parks along the way.

Approaching the great wheel

Parks and gardens along the way

Floral displays everywhere

Looking back at the city from the Great Wheel

Views across the water

Small containers for pop-up shops on the walkalong the water are also decorated to please.

More container art

We head back up the multiple sets of stair at Overlook Walk and look at the art on the buildings and back at the spectacular views of the Seattle Waterfront Park.

Art on buildings

Looking back at the park

Map of the park

This project has really modernized the waterfront and connected it to the city and Pike Place Market and is an incredible use of the space.